Jose Feliciano and his band hadn't played out in a while, and the benefit of their Valentine's night reunion was had by the audience Friday night at the University of Connecticut's Jorgensen Auditorium. A talkative, free-wheeling Feliciano sat center stage for over two hours and together with his five backing musicians, he played through a generous, head-spinning selection of tunes that ran the full range of the radio dial from Latin to pop, blues to rock, and hillbilly to funk.

Jose Feliciano and his band hadn't played out in a while, and the benefit of their Valentine's night reunion was had by the audience Friday night at the University of Connecticut's Jorgensen Auditorium. A talkative, free-wheeling Feliciano sat center stage for over two hours and together with his five backing musicians, he played through a generous, head-spinning selection of tunes that ran the full range of the radio dial from Latin to pop, blues to rock, and hillbilly to funk.

Someone is honking a horn outside Sister Marie Roccapriore's Bellevue Street house in Meriden. He isn't honking to get her attention. He's honking to the beat of a song by Spirit Joy, blasting from a cassette player inside his maroon Dodge Caravan. "Daaaddddyyy, cut it out," implores his 8-year-old daughter, Melissa. "Jose. Honey. Please!" says his wife, Susan Feliciano. Jose Feliciano stops and smiles. The Grammy-winning artist is perfectly content to sing along with the tape that he and his wife produced last summer at their home in Weston.

Jose Feliciano -- the multitalented musician who gave us one of the best-known Christmas songs in the world, "Feliz Navidad" -- was all set to talk about his craft Wednesday. As soon as he finished his clementine. Hey, the man has to eat sometime. In a phone interview from his home in Fairfield County, which included his wife and the playful sounds of his children in the background, Feliciano talked about performing at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs tonight and Saturday, and about new projects and what inspires him. Q: What are you planning for your performance?

Light My Fire Who could ever forget the way that Puerto Rican balladeer Jose Feliciano re-cut and sang the original Doors hit of the 1960s, "Light My Fire"? Area residents will get a chance to see Feliciano in the flesh today at a festival in Hartford celebrating Puerto Rican culture. The event, which will be dedicated to Feliciano, is scheduled from noon to 9 p.m. and will be held on Park Street between Washington and Broad streets. Entertainers expected to appear at the free festival are Frankie Negron, Hermanos Rosario, Tito Nieves, Oro Solido, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Lilliana, Limite XXI, George Lammond, Malcriados y Orquesta, Ley Alejandro, Roberto Vargas and Grupo Killa.

If you want to get a better understanding of Connecticut's Puerto Rican population, "Puerto Rican Passages," a Connecticut Public Television special, would be a great place to start. The lively, well-researched program, which will be broadcast Sunday, offers a quick history of the island, from its indigenous Taino people to centuries of colonialism. But it concentrates on Puerto Rican migration to the mainland during the busy, post- World War II era. Although Puerto Ricans are a sizable population here -- in some cities, the largest group -- they have not received the attention they deserve from the wider population (which sometimes doesn't even realize Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth)

Jose Feliciano -- the multitalented musician who gave us one of the best-known Christmas songs in the world, "Feliz Navidad" -- was all set to talk about his craft Wednesday. As soon as he finished his clementine. Hey, the man has to eat sometime. In a phone interview from his home in Fairfield County, which included his wife and the playful sounds of his children in the background, Feliciano talked about performing at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs tonight and Saturday, and about new projects and what inspires him. Q: What are you planning for your performance?

Light My Fire Who could ever forget the way that Puerto Rican balladeer Jose Feliciano re-cut and sang the original Doors hit of the 1960s, "Light My Fire"? Area residents will get a chance to see Feliciano in the flesh today at a festival in Hartford celebrating Puerto Rican culture. The event, which will be dedicated to Feliciano, is scheduled from noon to 9 p.m. and will be held on Park Street between Washington and Broad streets. Entertainers expected to appear at the free festival are Frankie Negron, Hermanos Rosario, Tito Nieves, Oro Solido, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Lilliana, Limite XXI, George Lammond, Malcriados y Orquesta, Ley Alejandro, Roberto Vargas and Grupo Killa.

Hundreds of new songs are recorded each year in hopes of becoming a Christmas classic, but the last one to really gain widespread acceptance may be Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad. " "A lot of people ask for me to sing it," Feliciano says by phone from Washington, D.C. "A lot of times they ask me to sing it when it's not even Christmas. " The Weston resident is proud of the accomplishment -- writing a song that many people assume is a traditional Spanish song. "It's caught up with 'White Christmas' in popularity in sales," he says.

While Elton John's tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, continues to top the singles chart for a third month, the tribute album in her honor hasn't been as hot an item, making its debut at No. 15 last week. Still, it will likely fare far better than a lesser known tribute album to Mother Teresa. That album, "Mother, We'll Miss You," actually had the same release date as the Diana tribute, but it is being distributed only through Catholic bookstores. A wider national release is set for next month.

Someone is honking a horn outside Sister Marie Roccapriore's Bellevue Street house in Meriden. He isn't honking to get her attention. He's honking to the beat of a song by Spirit Joy, blasting from a cassette player inside his maroon Dodge Caravan. "Daaaddddyyy, cut it out," implores his 8-year-old daughter, Melissa. "Jose. Honey. Please!" says his wife, Susan Feliciano. Jose Feliciano stops and smiles. The Grammy-winning artist is perfectly content to sing along with the tape that he and his wife produced last summer at their home in Weston.

Even the title of "Fargo" resonates with crazy humor. Just why the Coen brothers named this tangled tale of a crazy scam that turns into a bloodbath after the North Dakota city on the Minnesota border remains a mystery to the end. "Fargo" takes place not in North Dakota but in the Coens' native Minnesota. Near the end, the film jumps to a brief segment in Bismarck, not Fargo. Perhaps the Coens chose the title when forced to shift shooting to the Red River area for lack of snow in Minnesota.